If you read about Hong Kong (Cantonese language) political news and social movements, you will certainly be familiar with the new term “PRNN”.PRNN is the short for Peaceful, Rational, Non-violent and No-swearing, a
phrase that is used to describe the social movements and protests in Hong

Kong. The people of Hong Kong have been educated since they were children to adopt the PRNN format for social movements, and believe that a peaceful and friendly attitude can conquer every problem in the world. When we were young, every time two children had a quarrel and it intensified to a physical
level, the child who started the physical act would be punished and told off by teachers who would say “being physical is incorrect!” The child, even though aggrieved, would understand the sub-context:

Justice isn’t what you think is right, it is what the teachers say is right. A group of children were raised from day one to be loud and posturing (paper tigers). As they grow up, all they know is “calling the police”. “What? Why don’t you call the police?” “Fine! I will! Stay where you are!” “Go ahead, I’m so NOT afraid of you!” Two persons shouting at each other at a distance. This sissy way of quarrelling is probably unique to Hong Kong.

When I was studying in Canada, students from Hong Kong who were bullied by their Caucasian fellow students would always turn to complain to the teachers with puppy eyes. Even though the bully might be punished with suspension, once he’d “served his time” he always went back to bullying the students from Hong Kong again. This is simply because children asking help from the teachers are always looked down on by others.

If the same situation happened to a Korean student, he would have punched
the bully, and the rest of the Korean students would join their friend to
teach the bully a lesson. Although Korean students are not necessarily good at fighting, they are renowned for being brave and united. Everyone knows that Koreans are not an easy target for bullying and have some respect for them.People of Hong Kong are so ridiculously used to being weak. Every protest when some sort of “physical confrontation” happens, people would start shouting about “police hitting civilians”, and the police would go hysterical and start shouting “calm down”. At the end, both groups of people wind up intact, rolling on their backs and claiming to be injured.

I am not encouraging violence. However, genuine protest and resistance actions are not like this type of cat fight! Nothing can be achieved through this type of protest. When protesters fight for their rights this way, those in power ignore them with impunity. How do those without power or privilege get those in power to listen to them? Could shouting at them, sitting on their doorsteps work? If those in power are known for their shamelessness and thick skin, lip service protest will not make them listen.

Be Determined and Brave

“Let’s sit down and talk things through.” To sit down and talk, both parties have to have a similar amount of bargaining chips. When you’re taking my life line hostage, while I’m preventing you administering your affairs, there can be a fair negotiation. This is why people want to occupy Central, and why dock works went on strike. To get the other party to sit down at the negotiation table, you have to “grab the other party by its throat”.

Unfortunately, the people of Hong Kong have been taught that grabbing hold of another person’s throat is wrong. Therefore, that’s why when we grab someone’s throat we focus on being civilised: we’d better sit down for a talk to decide how to make sure we won’t hurt each other too much before we engage in combat, just to prevent outsiders to think we’re ambushing the other party; or we have to honest and proclaim that we are just making a stand and never intend to knock the other party out. Oh my Lord! Do we have to treat our enemy to supper as an apology???!

We have come this far. Are we afraid of losing or are we afraid of winning?

Going on strike means you need to barricade all the entrances at the dock

and paralyse the operations or even create a shortage of supply in the
market, in order to not only create economic impact to the dock company,
but also build pressure from the company’s customers and the society. This way, the strike could have a fighting chance of winning.

As for Occupy Central, people have to just creep in and take over the
entrances and exits of the government headquarter and all major
institutions, so that no one could go to work, paralyse the government’s operation and traffic, making Central a ghost town without any warning. This will force the government to face and deal with the situation.These actions are not violent. All they require are determination, bravery and the ability to continue till the end. If it involves some sort of physical contact with the police, don’t be afraid. If there are barricades in the middle of the action, do not hesitate to remove them. If after a PRNN action, all we can get are more delays in resolving the issue and a sneer, why we do have to stick to the PRNN formula? Without the courage to hold up our fists, how could you expect your opponent to respect you? I could not bear to look at the dock workers on strike outside Cheung Kong Centre, they are begging for a minimal increment like humble servants. The representatives of the company showed their disdain by going gambling on horse racing and for a lunch break in the middle of the negotiation, causing the negotiation to end!! In any other countries, workers would have gone straight to the company’s office building. The enemy is already at our front gate, why didn’t these people have the courage to occupy Cheung Kong Centre?

Be Fighters or Be Slaves

The way the people of Hong Kong think is very strange: when they watch Les
Miserables they burst into tears, but they didn’t know about the revolution
and the people who took over Paris. When the TV channels broadcast China’s national anthem every day, using red education to teach children to sing “stand up stand up! Use our flesh and blood to build our new Great Wall” (editor’s note: the beginning of China’s national anthem), all the government wants us to do is to be its slaves. Hong Kong people! Wake up! What more do you stand to lose by being civilised? Do you understand this is the time to stand up and fight?

Here are a couple of old clips. Watch and ask yourself, have you been protesting or have you been demonstrating your weakness!